The Little Merman
by Shiima
Summary: - AU - A story about two ordinary fishermen. Zack's a mermaid fanatic, Cloud doesn't believe in silly fairy tales. But how does that change when he manages to capture a merman and see with his naked eye that they are real? - M-rated for later chapters -
1. Sea and Land

**Disclaimer! **I don't own the Disney or any of their works and the same goes for Square Enix and their work. There I said it!

**Warnings! **Shonen-ai, swearing, ecchi, possibly violence and possibly yaoi. These warnings goes in the whole story and if there is any chapter that I find need a more extreme warning or a new one I will add it at the top of that chapter.

_**AN! **__Hello again! xD I'm so happy I got such a nice response on my earlier fanfic "Chocobo in a thong" :D I wasn't expecting that since it was my first and all! I would like to thank everybody who faved and reviewed it! It's a very good way to encourage a writer! Some people requested a sequel and I promise that I think about it, I already got at least one idea for their date and we'll see if I come up with some more x] For now I would like to try my luck on a multi-chaptered fanfic. I would like to apologize in advance if I don't finish the story or if I'm slow with the updates, I know at least I hate when that happens but I don't know what will happen in my life so I dare not make any promises that it won't happen... Oh, and no matter what the title might make you believe I didn't get my inspiration from "The Little Mermaid" I actually got it from watching "Ponyo": P Excellent movie by the way, I strongly recommend it!! :D_

_I hope you will like my story and if not, well the main reason I'm writing it is to get some writing practice so HA! I win! x]_

The Little Merman

**Chapter 1: Sea and land**

_That day began much like every other day did back when I was still a fisherman. My best friend, and former colleague, Zack was telling me about the new info he had gathered on mermaids and I, as a good friend, listened to his stories intently. No matter how ridiculous I found them. I like Zack, I really do, but when it came to mythology and especially mermaids he's always been kind of a nerd. He was also very stubborn since every time I confronted him about it he simply answered something along the lines of "I'm rather a nerd than a stick in the mud, __**Cloud**__". I guess I deserved it. _

_I'm not a fisherman anymore by the way; I quit some time ago and became a soldier instead since I wanted to do something to serve the country. I still love to fish though; it's something special about sitting alone in tranquility, surrounded by nothing but water and life and just listening to nature singing it's daily melody, but now a day I don't do it for the money but rather as a hobby in my spare time. _

_The only thing that differed that day from our otherwise daily routine was that the news had informed us about a storm that was on its way towards our little town. Normally we wouldn't set sail if we knew before hand that the weather was going to get rough but that day was different, we were all suffering from the financial crisis that was sweeping the country and we were desperately in need for every single gil we was able to scoop up._

_And I'm glad we went, because otherwise I would have never have met__** him**__._

_ ~- *** -~_

Two young men were walking together along the harbor towards the pier, side by side, like they did every morning. The one who walked farthest towards the ocean was dressed in casual clothing, consisting of a regular white t-shirt and a pair of jeans followed up by a pair of heavy boots, he was a tad taller than the average man, he had a glassy expression on his face and a pair of striking baby blue eyes that was as pale as the ocean on a cloudless day to go with it and his head was covered with his trademark out of control spiky blonde hair.

The other male wore a tight dark blue armless sweater, a pair of baggy jeans and alike heavy boots as his blonde partner. He had a goofy smile plastered to his face, similar unnatural eyes as the blonde but much darker in color and spiky raven hair that pointed backwards with the exception of his split bangs that hung on either side of his hairline, framing his face nicely.

"Today is the day, Cloud! I can _feel _it!"

It was still a couple of hours before sunrise so the whole town was pretty much bare with the exception of the sleeping vagrants along the sidewalks and the rats that finally dared to jut their heads out from under the bridge. Cloud watched how a rat hightailed back to its covert as his boot creaked against the hard wood of the bridge.

"Yeah, right…" the blonde answered with a sigh.

"Aww, come on! What's up with that disapproving answer? You don't believe me?!"

"Well, to be honest Its getting more and more difficult to take you seriously since lately you've had that '_feeling_' almost every day and I still haven't seen you catch anything more spectacular than a tuna. And that was pure luck"

"It was not! I consider myself a _very _skilled fisher, thank you very much. And today I really _do_ feelit! It's different from the other days, _believe me_!"

"Different how?"

"Well, for one! Today it's not only my gut telling me so but my head too!"

"Your… head?"

"Yeah, I have like this pressure behind my forehead. Almost like a headache but at the same time it's not… It's a sign, I tell you_. A SIGN!!_"

Cloud sighed. He had been through this conversation so many times before he already knew how it would end. And yet, he always kept on arguing knowing perfectly well that the other man wouldn't listen to him no matter what he said or how convincing his arguments was.

"It's probably just the high atmospheric pressure. They said on the news that a thunderstorm would sweep by around late afternoon so we will have to be back before then by the way."

"Shun, non-believer. _SHUN! _Whatever, man. I will find a mermaid someday and when I do I will shove it in your face, just you wait!"

"I'm just saying that you shouldn't get your hopes up about this, you will just end up with disappointment and we both know that"

"You don't know what you're talking about, Cloud! How can you _not_ believe in mermaids?

"I'm not as naive as you are, Zack. I don't believe in fairytales"

"I'm telling you, it's _not_ fairytales! They have caught mermaids before, I've read about in old newspapers! There are even stores where you can buy necklaces and rings made by authentic mermaid scales! Now what do you say about that, huh?!"

"Publicity stunt and sales pitch"

Cloud saw from the corner of his eye how Zack opened his mouth ready to voice a retort when he was interrupted by a shout from the left of them.

"Are you two lovebirds gonna just stand there and argue like a married couple all day long?! If you didn't already know so there's a storm heading this way and I'd like to get this over with before we get stuck in it!"

Both Cloud and Zack turned their heads to the left to look at bearer of the voice that had intruded in their heated discussion. It belonged to none other than Sephiroth; Zacks ship's captain. Sephiroth was a young adult, not much older than the blonde and his dark-haired companion; he was rather tall and had beautiful silver hair that went all the way down to his waist and his eyes had a light blue color which beauty rivaled Cloud's baby blue ones. He was generally a very handsome man. Cloud's captain on the other hand was a man in his early thirties, his name was Cid Highwind and unlike Sephiroths natural beauty Cid gave more of a hirsute impression. He had a filthy mouth that swore constantly and a very short temper to go with it but, despite the vulgar first impression he gave, when it finally came down to it he was a good man.

The reason they used two boats, even though it most likely would be far more economical with just one, was partially because of the irregular traveling of the fish; they seemed to travel in shoals and if you were on the wrong side of the ocean then you were screwed so it was a good thing to cover both sides. But mostly it was because Sephirot and Cid weren't on very good terms with each other. Frankly they couldn't stand each others presence for too long without launching at the others throat.

Cloud wasn't exactly fond of Sephiroth either. To put it bluntly, he saw him as nothing more than a greedy bastard. Whenever there was money to be made, Sephiroth was sure to be around. He used to be a con-artist and scammed people, richer or poor, on a daily basis. You'd think he'd be stinking rich by now but even though he used to be he wasn't any longer, a while ago he was arrested and received a fat bunch of forfeitures together with one year in prison. It was Zack who bailed him out in exchange that Sephiroth promised to walk the road of the law from then on and to assist him with that he offered Sephiroth to join their little group of fishermen, much without his two blonde co-workers consent. Eventually Zack had been able to convince them both by telling them about the boat that the silver haired man had in his possession.

_A boat bought by money stolen right out of innocent people's hands_ Cloud thought darkly.

Cloud met Zacks eyes that now held a more determined glint to them and nodded in a silent agreement that it was about time to leave.

_ ~- *** -~_

The day began much like every other day. Leon woke up early and thus rose together with the sun. He wasn't necessarily a morning person, back when his parents were still alive he could snooze until early afternoon every day, but after the accident he was forced to take more responsibility and waking up early to work and gather some breakfast for both him and his little brother, Sora, was part of that responsibility.

Both Leon and his brother had matching chocolate brown hair and blue fish tails; it was those parts of them that pretty much gave away that they were genetically connected. The older of the two had long vent hair that went almost all the way down to his shoulders and a pair of eyes that swayed in color between gray and blue resembling an uprising hurricane.

The younger brunette had spiky hair that seemed to have a life of its own and a pair of aqua blue eyes that corresponded with the ocean that surrounded them. Even though they were both unhealthily slender Leon was more muscular and better built than his three year younger brother. He also had an angry red scar that went diagonally across his nose giving a rather intimidating first impression.

Sitting up on the giant flat rock that was his bed he rubbed his eyes in an attempt to wake himself up and remove the remaining grit that had gathered there as he was asleep. When he was certain his senses was as sharp as they could get this early in the morning he glanced over at the other rock on the opposite side of the cave where Sora laid splayed on his stomach snoring soundly. The corner of Leons mouth twitched in an almost smile as he saw that his little brother had managed to throw his blanket, made by seaweed and sewn together by human hair, on the floor of the cave sometime during the night. He swam over to the other youths sleeping form, grabbing the seaweed blanket on the way, and covered him with it carefully as to not wake him up. Leon himself did not own a blanket and slept solely on the bare rock. Sora had protested about it being unfair in the beginning but Leon had eventually managed to convince him that he did not need a blanket. After all comfort was something they rarely could afford and whenever they could Leon thought it best that the younger of the two received it.

Yes, Leon and his little brother were very close even though they still argued on a regular basis just like any other siblings.

They resided in a sea cave closer to the shore than Leon had agnized but since it was the cave they had been born and raised in they simply couldn't find in themselves to move away from it. It was narrow but not intolerable and the passage to it was covered in a field of seaweed that served both as a protecting shield hiding their home from uninvited guests and as provision in emergencies. Seaweed was edible but it wasn't the most satiating or palatable food that you could come across which is why it was avoided to eat unless obliged to.

When Leon had made sure that Sora was comfortably tucked in under the blanket he peeked his head out of the opening of the cave, making sure that the coast was clear, before he left for Traverse town. He needed to first of all find some breakfast for him and his younger brother and after that he was off to see if anyone in town needed his assistance.

Just like any other ordinary day.

_ ~- *** -~_

The storm had approached much earlier than anticipated. It was only noon and the wind had already perceptibly picked up in velocity and the rain was pouring down with such strength that Cloud couldn't tell if it was water or hail. It could as well be bullets hitting him from above for all Cloud knew. He was too focused on his task to give a damn.

He sat on a sturdy crate, rod in a steel grip and his feet were planted on the deck preventing him from moving barely an inch from where he was sitting on the stem. He had put on a yellow rain cape; or rather Cid had forcefully wrapped him up in the hideous thing.

He heard said man shouting something in the background repeatedly but the wind was too strong for him to be able to pick up on what was said. They had been out on the sea for hours and yet Cloud had barely caught any fish at all, he'd be damned if returned home empty-handed and that's why he still sat there like a statue even thought his freezing body and common sense were screaming at him to drop the rod and tell Cid to steer them back to safety.

The boat suddenly made a harsh tilt to the right which made the blonde lose his balance and stumble forward, off the box, a few steps until he regained his balance and grabbed the rail not to fall off the boat. He barely noticed as his red rectangular box that contained all of his bait skittered along the right side of the deck and fell into the ocean.

_ ~- *** -~_

"Thank you so much, Leon! You're a true life saver, dude!"

Leon looked away from the little brunette boy that now was sitting on the floor of a house mostly made out of a giant silver white seashell. Leon couldn't help but wonder for a second what kind of gigantic animal had been residing in that shell. His eyes then met with the aqua blue eyes of a spiky haired blonde cacaelian with eight green octopus arms and a black tattoo, which Leon guessed was supposed to resemble some kind of wing, covering half his face.

"It's no big deal" Leon answered and shrugged nonchalantly. This wasn't the first time Leon had to search for the little boy together with Zell and Leon couldn't for the life of him understand why the neighbor lady still let someone as careless as Zell baby sit her child. Maybe she didn't have the privity of her child running amuck every time she turned her back to him.

"Oh, believe me it _is_ a big deal! Man, if he had swum up to the surface right now I would be in deep shit right now. And we're not talking ankle deep we're talking _chest_ deep, dude!"

Leon raised an eyebrow in distrust at the blonde's exaggeration and it didn't exactly help that he waved his arms around like a fool to demonstrate to the brunette exactly how deep "shit" he would be in.

"Why? What's going on up on the surface?"

"You don't know?! There's this _big ass_ storm going up there and it just keep getting worse, I heard from Yuffie that ten mermaids already got caught and hurt in it and the number keep increasing every hour because of clueless mermaids going up there! I'm glad I told you before you did"

"Yeah, thanks for telling me but I wouldn't take Yuffie too seriously if I were you. She tends to overdramatizise things..."

Yet he couldn't help the worrisome feeling that started to gnaw on his insides. Sora had a tendency to swim up to the surface and play, especially when he was together with Riku. Did he know about the storm? Said and done, Leon left Zell and the neighbor boy with a quick farewell and left towards the reef. He knew from experience that was Soras favorite place to be because of the beautiful corals in different colors that decorated the rock ridges.

"Hey Sora!" the older brunette yelled when he finally spotted the two youths sitting on top of the biggest rock and looking up towards the surface.

Sora flashed him a smile and waved happily as he approached them, a smile which Leon returned swiftly but as his eyes caught the sight of his silver haired companion his mouth immediately turned a 180 and became a scowl.

It was Riku, Sora's best friend. He had silver grayish hair in shoulder length and a pair of matching gray eyes. Those eyes met his and even though he had a proud and fearless expression on his face the older brunette could still see the hint of fright in his eyes. It was most likely because Leon was staring at him like he had murder in mind.

"Leon, stop staring at him like that!" he heard Sora scold him from above after having his eyes lingering a little too long on Riku.

"Guys, please don't fight..." the young brunette added in a more begging tone of voice when neither of the two looked away.

"Don't worry we won't, Sora" Leon said in his usual composed voice and finally looked away from his silver haired friend.

He didn't like Riku. It wasn't because he was a bad person or anything like that, not at all, he trusted his younger brother to be a good enough judge of character for that. It was his tail that bothered him, his _specimen._ Riku was from the shark mer folk and therefore had a shark fin. The reason he didn't like the boy wasn't personal he just couldn't allow himself to trust a shark. He had already done that mistake once.

"So, what are you two up to?" Leon asked if only to break the rather awkward silence that had erupted. He didn't do a very good job hiding his suspicion from his voice though.

"Nothi-"Riku began defensively but was interrupted by a voice from above him.

"There's a boat up there" it was Sora who had spoken. He had turned his head towards the surface again and the other two followed his example after hearing his statement. "It's rocking pretty violently, I wonder if they need any help?"

"Don't even think about it Sora." The young brunet turned his head sharply at the stern voice that belonged to his older brother. The youth pouted at the harshness in his tone and at the fact that he had just been given an order. He was a teenager after all, he _hated_ being ordered around.

He reclined his head back towards the surface in a display of defiance and the sight made his eyes widen and curiosity warm his boyish heart.

"I only came to tell you that it recently got to my knowing that there's a storm going on just above the water surface so do me a favor and stay away from emerging since its very dangerou-... _SORA! Didn't you hear a word I just said?! Get back here!"_ the silver haired boy who had been listening intently to Leons little speech flinched when the older boy suddenly raised his voice noticeably and his usually composed voice turned into a harsh bark.Riku followed Leons field of vision and saw in horror how Sora was swimming in high speed towards the boat and was by now dangerously close to the surface.

"I'm not going to emerge, I promise! The humen on the boat dropped something into the water! I think its food!"

"I don't care! It's dangerous! _SORA!! Get back here dammit!_"

He waited a while to see if his younger brother would obey his command but when the younger had already reached his target, which appeared to be a red box of some sort, Leon had had enough and swam after him all the while cursing under his breath and muttering about what an imbecille his little brother was. He could hear how the shark merman followed him but at a safe distance, apparently reluctant in interfering with the siblings quarrel.

Suddenly Leon's eyes widened to the size of saucers and time seemed to proceed in slow motion.

The sounds of some unidentified object shatter the water surface with a loud splash. How said unidentified object put a shadow over his dear younger brother who looked up too late to recognize what the object was. A net. Leon opened his mouth and screamed something from the bottom of his lungs but he was in too much panic to recognize his own voice and understand what it had uttered. He felt how his limbs seemed to go numb and adrenalin take over his body as Sora released the red box and let it fall to the ground and turned around to swim away from the net that seemed to be chasing him but his reaction was far too delayed.

Sora panicked as he saw from the corner of his eyes how the net was slowly surrounding him and cornering him between the ropes of the net and the surface. He felt a sharp shove to his left side, forcing him to close his eyes tightly out of the sudden pain flaring in his ribs, and he flew what felt like several feet away from the intruding object and he managed to swirl two laps before he finally regained his balance. Not until then did he dare to open his eyes again and shortly after he rather wished he hadn't.

The last he saw of his brother before he was roughly pulled out of ocean was how he was laying on the bottom of the net, fish tail crooked and hanging lifeless above the surface just a few inches above his head, hands tangled up in the net and his stormy eyes looking back at him with a strange mix of fear and relief.


	2. Birth of the Squall

**Disclaimer! I _still _don't own Kingdoms Heart, Square Enix or any of their characters.**

**Warnings! Cid. _Yes, he is a warning._**

The Little Merman

**Chapter 2: Birth of the Squall**

Cloud felt hypnotized, unable to take his eyes off the shimmering creature garmented in navy scales and snow white Caucasian skin. It had poofy hair in shoulder-lenght that had a colour that reminded Cloud of the coffee he drank for breakfast and a pair of greyblue eyes that stared back up at him with the same vigorous impression as the pending storm that swallowed them as the merman trashed and writhed in the net that held him captive on the deck. Unfortunately for the merman its struggle proved futile as it only resulted in it getting even more tangled up in the net.

Pelting rain and brutal bluster was lost and forgotten in the presence of the beautiful being.

It wasn't until he felt a sturdy hand on his right shoulder that he was able to snap out of his daze.

"Well, well, well, fuck me sideways. I haven't heard from one of these for nearly 20 years now" he heard Cid's robust voice murmur uncomfortably close to Cloud's left ear for his liking but in the view of the situation he refrained from lecturing the older blonde about personal space.

"Come on, grab his arms and I take the fin. We need to get him in some water and maybe that will calm him down a bit"

The younger obeyed without protesting. Carrying the merman into the cabin turned out to be a real pain as the touching only made its restistance even wilder. The cabin was about the size of a one-room apartment and there was more to that resemblence. It had a worn out bunk bed on the east side of the room and a small kitchen with a mini-freezer which contained Cids rum and nothing more. In the middle of the room stood a rather large water tank were the fish they caught were supposed to be kept. Once they had put- or rather tossed- the merman into the water tank, which was far from big enough to fit the creature so it was forced to lie on it's back and have it's tail hang in the air above the water, Cloud let out a deep breath he hadn't been aware of holding.

"Heh, I must give it to you Spiky. I'm mighty impressed. I honestly didn't think you had it in you" the older male said and chuckled lightly while watching the merman closely with crossed arms and a smug smile on his face. The merman was still struggling violently; it had started biting on the net.

"You knew mermaids existed...?" Cloud asked, all in one quick breathe, with an uncertain look on his face as he watched Cid pull a pocket knife out of his belt and as he unsheated it he saw from the corner of his eye how the brunette merman stilled his struggles and widened his eyes at the silvery blade.

"Nah, I've heard a lot about them, mostly from that Zack kid you hang out with, but frankly I've always had my doubts and the most recent years of silence made me think it was just a load of jibberish. Until now there is" he said in an admirably calm voice as he slowly worked with cutting the net and free the brunette's limbs one by one as it watched the bigger hands work rigorously.

"Yeah... Zack... I-... I guess I owe him an apology..."

Cid turned away from the merman to look at his young protege as he removed the remains of the net. The younger blonde was trembled lightly and his wide open eyes seemed glued to the face of their new draft who seemed clueless to the intense attention it was recieving. Something was wrong. It wasn't like Cloud to stutter and lose his composure like this.

"Why so shook up, Spiky? Didn't expect to get one of these little fuckers on your hook?"

"No, I... I didn't think... Didn't know that they-"

"-Were for real? Well, they are so get over it. If you have to mull over something would I suggest you ask yourself how in _hell_ you managed to capture a merman in the first place! According to what I heard the only way to capture a mermaid is to outwit them first because they're supposed to be wise and shit but, no offence kiddo, but I can't really visualise you outwitting anyone with that spiky brain of yours. I'm thinking this one might just be plain stupid" as the older male finished his sentence and pointed his thumb in the brunettes direction the splashing sound of someone surfacing hit the room and before anyone of them could react the merman turned his head towards Cid and spit a jet of water in his face before submerging again.

"_Son of a bitch...!"_ he heard Cid bellow as his hands flew up to his face on instinct to protect his face from another spray. Cloud, who was watching the scene unfold, found himself having a hard time holding back laughter and ended up snickering softly and letting his right hand find his stomach.

"Is that the thanks I get for being _nice_?!_ You shut up, BLONDIE!_" he added while pointing an accusing finger at the youth and strode off towards the bathroom while walking conveniently closer than necessary to Cloud just so he could push past him and give him a good shove in the side for good measurement even though there was plenty of room to move around him.

As he heard the bathroom door close with a loud slam behind him his eyes locked with the brunettes and his face grew more serious. _I can't help but wonder though. Was that just a lucky coincidence or does he actually... understand what we're saying?_

"Hey... Do you speak our language?"

The question made the merman's eyes narrow and turn his head away from the human. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? What did they want from him anyway? He tried to swallow but a thick lump that had gathered in his throat preventet him from completing that task. He was frightend. He didn't show it on the outside but on the inside he felt like a crying and trembling child out of fear for what was going to happen to him. _Quit it, Leon! Don't be silly! It's just childrens tales that parents tell their young ones to prevent them from surfacing. Surely they have no trace of truth in them... Humans aren't that cruel... right?_

"I know you can hear me, don't pretend you can't"

Leon flinched at the voice and the sound of approaching foot steps but scolded himself for it and willed himself to stay still. The worst thing he could do was show fear. He noticed the shadow that suddenly rested upon his upper body, as a proof of how unervingly close the human was to him, and he could feel the babyblue eyes burning into the side of his face.

The blonde suddenly felt an overmastering need to touch the stunning creature before him. He wanted to know what those scales felt like underneath his open palm and he wondered if that naked skin was as soft to the touch as it looked like. He reached out. Letting his hand hover somewhat above the hip of the brunette, hesitating, but he retracted it just as quickly as he heard a loud ruckle announcing that Cid was back in the room.

"Cloud, a word?" the older blonde said and jerked his head to the right as a sign for him to come over. Cloud swallowed a little nervously, not exactly thrilled about being caught so quickly, and glanced one last time at the creature before heading over to Cid.

"Do you find it attractive?" the older blurted out and gave Cloud a grave look. The head-on question shocked the blond and momentarily made him froze up and eyes widen before he caught himself and willed his expression back to it's usual impassive self again. Of course Cid would catch onto that. He wasn't stupid. That look he had given the merman wasn't a look you gave a stranger or even a friend and especially not the catch of the day! It was a look reserved for lovers... He knew because for a moment he had seen his own reflection in the water and even he had been slightly suprised at his own lustful eyes that looked back up at him.

"Yeah, I do" he answered truthfully. He saw no reason in lying anyway especially since he knew from experience that if he got caught he would piss the older male off royally and _no one_ liked a grumpy Cid. The aged sailor hated frauds above all else which is one of the reasons he couldn't stand Sephiroth, a man whose whole life and fortune was built upon lies and deception.

"I thought so. Don't beat yourself up about it though. Hell, even I find myself attracted to it!" Cid said in a strangely heartfelt tone and smiled at the genuine answer the youth had provided him before he became serious once again and said in a much lower voice;

"I just thought I would share some knowledge with you before you go off and do something stupid. You see, behind that angelic face theres a _devil _lurking. I don't know how much you know about the merfolk but according to what I've heard they're a bunch of fucking sirens. They lure sailors with their oh-so-pretty faces down into the sea and drown them, either for food or just for the sheer hell of it. Who knows?"

"Cid, that's just silly fairy tales. Sure I thought so about mermaids too and they turned out to be true but that doesn't mean every rumor about them is"

"Of course not _every_ rumor about them is true! Do you know how frigging many rumors about mermaids there are out there?! But this one I actually believe. Isn't it evidence enough that_ I'm_ attracted to a fucking _male_?! And I'm about as far away from being a fruit cake that you can get, I tell you that!"

"It sounds more to me like you're trying to protect yourself from running the risk of being labeled 'gay'!" Cloud bit back harsher than he had intented to and scowled at the others verdict. It wasn't so much his opinion that bothered him but rather the fact that he had used such a detractive word for the homosexual genus. Cid obviously didn't know that Cloud belonged to that genus togheter with Zack and most likely Sephiroth as well (_Honestly, no man with that kind of hairstyle could seriously be straight_). Maybe Cid wasn't as clever as the younger blond had given him credit for after all.

"Belive what the hell you want I'm just telling you to be careful! Jeez, there's no need to get your panties in a knot" Cid growled, throwing his wet towel in Cloud's face in frustration and left the cabin with an annoyed sigh.

"Watch the merman. I'm taking us home"

_~- *** -~_

"_NIISAN!"*_

When his big brother had been hauled out of the ocean it took a while for Sora to be able to grasp the course of events. He had grabbed his own arm and wrenched it tighter and tighter in an attempt to wake up from this nightmare that he had dreamt several times before but never quite as realistic as this one. It wasn't until firm but comforting hands grabbed hold of his wrist and gently guided it away from his by now abused arm and a pair of marine blue comfident eyes met his terrified ones that he finally understood;

This wasn't a dream.

This was the real deal that he had feared for so long but never really thought possible.

His brother and last remaining relative had left him and now he was all alone in the big ocean.

The young brunette looked up in horror as he heard the boats enginge kicking in and the boat started moving away from them towards an uknown destination.

"NIISAN!"

Sora made a heavy kick with his fin in an attempt to get up some speed to follow the boat but the arms encircling his right wrist retained him.

"Let me _**GO**__ Riku_!" he screamed and turned around in order to put a hard fist into the shark's chest. Riku grunted at the fists impact but didn't let go but tightened his grip around the smaller boy's wrist instead.

"_NO_! You're in an unstable state of mind and aren't thinking logically!! You don't even know where that boat is heading, it could be _MILES_!"

"_**I don't care**__! It doesn't matter!"_

Riku tried to capture the brunettes fleeting eyes with his own but had to let one of his hands leave the thin wrist and grab his chin to be able to do so. He pulled the brunettes face close to his own and stared directly into the boy's eyes with the most earnest face that he could muster. He remembered how his mother used to do something similar to him when he was in serious trouble as a kid and she wanted him to understand exactly how severe the situation was. "_It does! _Don't you see what will happen if you follow that boat for _miles_?! You will end up _lost_ and litterally_ deadbeat_! I won't let that happen to you!"

"Then you come with me!"

"Yeah, sure and togheter we can make a nice little _fish buffet_! Do you honestly think that putting yourself in danger is going to help anyone in the least of all _Leon?_"

"Then what about Leon? _What about my big brother?!_ Are we just going to leave him to his fate?"

Sora made a half-turn with his head trying to watch after the boat but the greynette** would have none of it and pulled his face back to meet his own.

"Don't look at it! Even if you did catch up to that boat the only way for you to embark it is by getting caught yourself and I _won't let you do that_! You can't do this on you own, do you understand?! You... _We_ need to gather some help, okay?"

Sora nodded assured that his voice wouldn't be able to take it any longer without cracking now that reality started to sink into him. He found himselft having a hard time breathing and kept gasping after his breath uncontrollably while unhindered tears in form of small bubbles finally managed to escape his eyes and travel towards the surface.

"Wh...What am... am I... supposed to... _do_...? R... Riku..." he said in-between unruly sobbings and gasps for air that his lungs didn't seem to be able to get enough of.

When strong arms finally let go of his wrist to be able to embrace him instead his sobbings turned into irrepressible tears streaming from his eyes and loud blubbering as he returned the hug and tightened it to a almost hurtful degree but Riku didn't mind. The greynette hushed gently into his ear while rubbing soothing circles on the others back with his right hand as the left one stroke his hair softly.

They stayed like that for what felt like hours but probably wasn't any longer than 15 minutes. Riku didn't mind anyway. If the boy so needed the whole night long to cry for before he felt better than so be it. He wasn't about to leave him like this.

"I think you should talk to Aerith" he whispered in his ear when the boy in his arms crying seemed to have quieted down a bit and his breathing become steadier.

_~- *** -~_

Cloud wiped away the sweat that had been gathering at his forehead with the backside of his hand and took a breather. He was cleaning out his aquarium that he kept in his basement and carefully moving its former inherents to their new home across the room. Normally you shouldn't mix several different seahorses, especially not if they're different species, into one and the same aquarium but he would have to deal with that problem later and hope that they would forgive him for it.

His basement consisted pretty much of two aquariums, one huge one that followed the whole short side of the room where he kept all of his female seahorses and another smaller one that wasn't any bigger than a 50 gallon water tank where the males was during pregency, and a work desk in the middle that was covered in so many stacks of paper you could barely tell it was even there.

The blonde had always been fascinated by seahorses and had 7 of them so far. 4 males and 3 females. Since seahorses were really hard to raise, at first they had died like flies always leaving him with an intense feeling of guilt and everytime he had asked himself if that was how a mother felt when realizing that she had failed with her child. Luckily he had managed to improve with time and he had woved to raise as many new seahorses as he had failed with and give them as good a home as possible. He knew that it was probably a pretty silly thought but he couldn't help it, he was as much of a seahorse nerd as Zack was a mermaid fanatic. One of the reasons why he was so intrested in the animals was because of the unique reproduction procedure where the male, _not_ the female, carried and delivered the babies. For some reason that little piece of information always managed lit his face up and made him feel happiness and appriciation over the fact that such an animal existed.

He huffed resolutely as he finished cleaning the third glass of the large aquarium and began with the next and last one.

The monotonous work made his thoughts wander to a certain brunette merman that was currently resting in his bathtub above. He had locked the door just in case even though he didn't actually believe that it was going anywhere anyway.

_~- *** -~_

It hadn't taken them long to find Aerith as she had luckily been at home. She had just about gotten off from her work as a healer when Sora and Riku had barged into her cave, Sora nearly throwing himself at the woman when embracing her in a tight hug. Sadly she wasn't alone when they got there, Yuffie had her day off since there weren't anything threatning the kingdom at the moment so her service as a warrior/bodyguard wasn't needed.

Sora barely made it to the end of his story before Yuffie began throwing her ill-mannered comments at him making the young brunettes weeping increase until he nearly fainted from the lack of air inlet.

"_Yuffie! _Not helping!" Aerith scolded the young ninja as she pressd Soras head into her chest while whispered consoling words into his ear in an attempt to comfort him.

"Whaaaaat?! I'm just saying that he shouldn't be too suprised if his brother came back in the form of a necklace! I'm_ trying_ to prepare him for the worst so that he doesn't become a nervous wreck when it actually happens!" Soras whimpering went up yet another notch at the now considered consisted comments.

"_You're_ making him a nervous wreck!" Aerith hissed dangerously. It made Yuffie, the short brunette with a darkgreen fin, that had two extra fins on either side of the upperhalf of it, and matching bra and headband made out of seaweed, suprisingly shut up for once and stare oddly at the older woman. Most likely because of the suddenly indistinctive tone of voice she had used against her.

Aerith was a woman in her early twenties who was famous among the locals for not only her composed and caring personality but also for her beauty. She had long brown hair embreaded in a thick braid behind her back and bangs that framed her face, penetrating lime green eyes that spoke of experience and wisdom and a lean fin in the same pretty pink color of a fuchsia.

Riku who so far had held his distance swam over to the brunette boy and put his hand on his shoulder before he raised his head to meet the deep green eyes of the older woman.

"Please, there must be something you can do. We must get Leon back! We came here to seek your guidance because I don't believe that we can't deal with this ourselves."

"Riku... I didn't know you cared for Leon. In fact I thought you two hated eachother with a passion." The older brunette answered with a hint of suprise in her voice.

"You're not right but you're not wrong either. That feeling of hatred was never entirely mutual, for some reason it seemed like Leon jumped to conclusions about me because of my species and after hearing about his past I can kind of understand why. He was probably just trying to protect Sora and I can't blame him for standing up for his younger brother. Quite the opposite actually, I respect it! But even with that said, if I have to be honest, I'm mostly doing this for Soras sake and not his older brothers."

"Please... Could you all stop talking about Leon in _past sentences_?! He's not gone yet, okay?!" Sora suddenly spoke up, his voice hoarse and staccato. His crying had let up enough for him to be able to talk comprehensible but the proof of his sorrow was still clearly evident in his face as his eyes were red and swollen. The sight made Riku's heart ache. He had never seen the usually happy-go-lucky boy so devestated before and he had known Sora for quite some time.

"First step; Denial" Yuffie said, not even trying to hide how blase she felt at the moment.

"Yuffie!" Aerith scolded yet again the younger womans insensitivity.

"Aerith..." she re-directed her attention from the ninja to the boy in her arms when she heard him call her name weakly. "Leon's going to be fine, right...?"

Aerith smiled sadly at the boy as she tightened her hold on him, he looked so fragile he reminded her of a china doll and she was afraid that if she let go he would fall and break into a million unrecognizable pieces.

"Don't worry, honey. Everything will be all right." She said cooed softly.

"Leon's gonna come home soon, right...?"

"Everything will be all right." She repeated and pressed his head against her nape while placing her chin on his head and rubbing his back soothingly. But the supposedly assuring words and consoling massage did nothing to undo his tense nerves. If anything the evasive answer had only made him feel worse.

_Please don't leave me Leon... I promise I do anything to get you back..._

_~- *** -~_

He was beyond humiliated.

He had been carried bridal style; somewhere what he guessed was underground, and then the first thing he had done when finally getting to be back in water was bang his head harshly against something sleek and solid. After further exploration with his hands it appeared to be some kind of invisible barrier that seperated him from the the rest of the room and the blonde. When said blonde suddenly knocked with his knuckles against the barrier, making a sonorous sound echo through the room, he had flinched sharply and backed away from him as much as possible until his back hit another wall. What kind of magic prison was this?!

"Don't be afraid. I'm not planning on hurting you." The blonde said while pressing his hand softly at the barrier. For a moment Leon stared at the palm of the hand that had flattened against the barrier but shifted his attention quickly to the blonde and gave him a deadly look.

"I admit that... I'm a bit shook up myself" Leon raised a delicate eyebrow at the sudden statement. "Just a couple of hours ago I was argumenting against mermaids bare existence. But seeing one up close is amazing and if all mermaids are like you than they are far more beautiful than the rumors are giving them credit for."

Leon felt his cheeks heat up at the unexpected compliment, something that the blonde caught on to and for a moment he actually believed that maybe he had gained its trust but that thought was crushed as the merman yet again started glaring at him. Cloud sighed.

"What do I have to do to make you trust me and understand that I have no bad intentions with you?"

Cloud's eyes widened slightly and his heart started thudding hopefully in his rib cage for some reason when the merman seemed to contemplate his offer.

Suddenly the brunette's lips started moving and bubbles left his mouth as he did but no sound was heard. That is until the bubbles hit the surface and broke and Cloud almost jumped out of his skin at the delayed and suprisingly deep voice that echoed through the room.

"Release me."

Cloud shuddered at the baritone voice and for a moment he lost himself and completly forgot that the merman was talking to him. He had to take a deep breathe and swallow deeply before he trusted his own voice to not reveal the sudden rush of lust that seemed to overwhelm him. With two simple words the brunette seemed to had been able to derange his whole self-control that had always been something he's been so proud of possessing. _Dammit! The hell is wrong with me?! I've never been the kind of guy to want to jump a complete stranger, no matter how attractive, so why am I now?! Maybe... Cid's theory about them being sirens weren't so far off after all...? _

"Afraid I can't do that"

"Why?" came the rapid reply and the voice was now dripping with hatred that hadn't been there before. It was obviously not the answer it had wanted. Cloud found himself wondering for a second if it was possible to boil water with that kind of rage.

_Why_? He wasn't sure why... Because he didn't want to? Because Cid had told him repeatedly about what a rare opportunity this was? Because it seemed like a waste to throw such a diamond back into the ocean? None of those reasons felt expedient enough to be voiced. At least not in front of the merman.

"Because you interest me." He finally said after some consideration. It wasn't a lie. The merman had sparked some interest in him. He could finally relate to Zack and why he was so fascinated by these creatures. "It's not everyday we get a visit from such a rare specimen"

Too late he realized his mistake when the merman's expression went from hatred to disgust.

"If you want me to trust you so badly why don't you start by _stop_ talking about me like I was some sort of collectable rather than a living being!" the brunette barked at him and went to lay down on the floor of the aquarium with his back towards the blonde stubbornly while staring holes into the wall that blocked the path to his freedom.

Cloud was momentarily stunned as the sudden realisation struck him. It made him feel like he had just been bitchslapped straight in the face. All this time he had been thinking of the merman as an "it" instead of a "he", he had assorted him togheter with the rest of the fish that he had caught during his career as a fisherman and never even given it a second thought. He felt... ashamed at himself for thinking and adressing him in a way that had suggested that he was an inanimated object.

"I'm sorry... I didn't think about it that way."

He waited a long while for an answer that never came so he decided to continue.

"Then what should I call you? Do you have a name?"

"Of course I do!" the brunette snapped and half turned to glare at the blonde. "What? You think that just because I'm not human like you I'm don't deserve an appellation?!"

"That's not what I meant. You shouldn't be so prejudicious."

"Isn't that a little hypocritical of you? Or are you honestly trying to convince me that you have absolutely none closed-minded opinion about me?"

There was silence again and a battle between who would break the eyecontact first began. No one had uttered a word about there being an actual battle but their both offending stares were as much as an invitation to a challenge as any oral explanation.

It was Cloud who broke the silence.

"Tell me your name." It wasn't as much a request as it was an order and it only resulted in Leon giving him a sour last look before turning his back to him once again.

"No."

He didn't want to give away his name to the stupid blonde. He didn't want to give away any information about himself at all for that matter. Mostly because it wasn't any of the other mans business but also because he felt like if he let the other man know his name he would give away a privilege that he wasn't willing to give up to a complete stranger. If they knew eachothers name then what would that make them? Acquaintances? _Friends?!_ No, they were definitly not friends and Leon would prefer that it kept that way. Being friends with a human could never lead to anything good.

"What if I gave you my name first then? Would that make it fairer? My name is Cloud Strife and I'm a fisherman, nice to meet you."

Cloud chuckled lightly, the laugh neither amusing nor taunting, when he yet again was responded to with deafening silence.

"Soo basically you don't want me to call you "it" but at the same time you won't present me another title for me to use?"

He wasn't at all suprised when there was no answer and he started to run his finger over the glass absent-mindedly while a playful smile tugged at his lips.

"Fine, be that way. Guess you leave me with no other choice than to come up with my own little nickname for you then. Now let's see... I caught you in a storm sooo how about 'Rain'? Nah, too girly even for you. Well, there was a lot of rough winds out there so how about... How about... 'Gale'? Nevermind, maybe it's just me, but it kinda sounded like a venereal disease when not used in a full sentence... Hmmm..."

The blonde scratched his chin thoughtfully while watching the mermans reaction carefully. He had noticed how the brunette had curled up more and more into a ball on the floor with each name suggestion the blonde had thrown at him and was now halfway into a fetal position. That's how he knew that he didn't like the names. The blonde smiled in amusement over how the brunette's actions spoke louder than his words and he wondered if he was aware of it.

"Well, let me think... I caught you right in the middle of a squall that made our boat rock violently and-... Hey...! I got it! How about 'Squall'? It sounds kinda cool and it fits you perfectly. Afterall my first impression of you was how pretty your eyes were and how they reminded me of a storm. A squall." _Plus that it fit perfectly with my own name. The Cloud and the Squall. Cloud and Squall. The Cloud in the Sq-... I should probably leave it at that... _

Leon was grateful about having his back turned towards the blonde as he felt his cheeks heat up yet again at the second compliment he had gotten about his looks. It was quite unusual for him to be complimented about well anything. There was only one other person that dared to flatter him like that so openly but he mostly did it to tease him because he knew it would make him blush.

Cloud thought that he saw the merman make a slight shrug and when he didn't curl up any further the blonde flash a content grin and clasped his hands togheter. His name had been approved of.

"Well then it's settled! I hereby dub you to Squall! And Squall you shall remain until your real name reveals itself!"

----------

_AN:_

_Gosh, this chapter was pretty hard to write o.o' too many emotions that I'm not familiar with... I don't have any siblings so I don't know how I would react if my brother/sister would get kidnapped and I certainly have never pulled up a mythological creature out of the ocean! I should probably mention that I'm not completly satisfied with this chapter but I still believe that I did my best._

_So happy about the responses for the first chapter so far and I want to thank you all and tell you guys how much a appreciate it! :D D: I'm trying to use words that I'm not entirely familiar with so that I can improve my english and I'm hoping that I'm using them the right way. XD_

_* For those of you who don't know this is japanese for 'Older brother' :D It just seemed to fit better._

_** I read DNAngel fanfics and in those they often refer to Satoshi, one of the characters in the series, as a bluenette since his hair is blue so I thought that if it's okay to use it for blue haired people it should be okay for grey/silver haired people as well! :] I mean why not? It sounds better than writing 'gray haired' all the time..._


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